Track Listing

1. Teen Age Riot
2. Silver Rocket
3. The Sprawl
4. 'Cross The Breeze
5. Eric's Trip
6. Total Trash
7. Hey Joni
8. Providence
9. Candle
10. Rain King
11. Kissability
12. Trilogy: a) The Wonder
13. Trilogy: b) Hyperstation
14. Trilogy: z) Eliminator Jr.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1191 in Music
• Released on: 2005-11-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 71 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Sonic Youth's fifth full-length release is regularly cited as their masterpiece, establishing the art-damaged quartet as part of the pantheon of 1980s American indie rock alongside R.E.M., the Replacements, and Husker Du. Originally released as a double album (remember those?), Daydream Nation is 70 minutes of punk, sprawl, and white noise. Not only is it nerve- wracking, otherworldly, and prone to clear the room of less-adventurous listeners, it's also frequently gorgeous and maybe even a little pop. Maybe. Featuring the anthemic "Teen Age Riot", a chugging, Velvet Underground-like masterpiece that practically predicts the alternative rock revolution that would ensue three years later, the Youth's last indie effort constantly challenges and amazes. --Neal Weiss

Customer Reviews

Hyper Album!
Recently i have listened to alot of new music, especially alternative music such as the Smiths, Pixies, R.E.M, Muse, Radiohead. And one thing I have noticed is that alternative music has a very wide range of intricate music within it.

Another thing I have noticed is that no good alternative band sounds like another. Sonic Youth don't 'sound' like anyone else ever. Inspired by VU's minimalist melodies and produced with the 80's guitar ethic of 'heavy is best' means this album is set up to be a drab and dreary ordeal. But it isn't, in fact it is absolutely fantastic.

Though at first listening it is only impressive the second will have you stunned. The album mixes both origional texture and guitar tone and timbre with insightful lyrics which cynically satirise 'gen-x' and are sung with the scornful voices of Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon. All the tracks evoke a different sense of the apathetic attitudes of the 80's and 90's.

The music is quite engaing and listening to this should be done in one sitting ie. no skipping tracks, no listening to one track only. Engage your mind slightly and you will enjoy this album emmensly.

Over-rated in my opinion
I don't get it. Why do all Sonic Youth fans consider Daydream Nation as their masterpiece? I don't get it! Sure there are a few standout songs in there (Teenage Riot, Cross the Breeze, Trilogy), but "almost" all the rest are below average.

Concerning the vocals. Sure, sonic youth never was a vocal band, after all that's why I guess there are 3 people singing, cause none of them is good enough. BUT, I believe that from vocal's point of view Daydream Nation is the worst SY album. Especially the Lee songs suck so much! Not that the Thurston vocal parts are much better ofcourse.

Anyway, if I had to choose a favourite SY record, it definetely wouldn't be Daydream Nation.

The Progressive Rock Band It's Okay To Like
Although I loathe the ridiculous hyperbole that surrounds this album I've resisted the urge to give it a two star rating. Thanks to the music press, Sonic Youth's bloated double album Daydream Nation has been revered as the holy grail of 1980s non-stadium rock. However, I have never been a fan of this album.

To give them their dues, Sonic Youth have a unique sound. There are parts of this album that are incredibly dissonant, and the band are able to create impressively dense textures given the fact that they're a four-piece. They are known for utilising alternate guitar tunings, as well as playing behind the bridge on their Fender Jazzmasters. In fact, the instrumentals are most interesting part of the album, especially the first two parts of the Trilogy. My problem with Sonic Youth is that they try to incorporate their guitar innovations into songs. Terrible, terrible songs. Thurston Moore sings like a bad Iggy Pop impersonator and Kim Gordon squeals and grunts like a pig being slaughtered. The songs themselves are very poor, and the lyrics in particular are awful; check out Gordon's pitiful attempt at beat poetry on The Sprawl.

I'm of the opinion that the songs are actually just set dressing for the band's instrumentals. This is one of the main problems I have with this album; it seems very cynical, as though it has been contrived to impress critics and hipsters and to alienate fans of pop music. The likes of The Velvet Underground, The Ramones, The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine have succeeded in making music that is both accessible and groundbreaking. Bands like these, however, are few and far between. On the other side of the coin, bands like Sonic Youth and Big Black found that it was easier to create music that was crude and jarring, and become darlings of the music press than to create something genuinely beautiful. On the whole Daydream Nation is an album of interesting sounds and poor songwriting. File alongside Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.